SilenX IXG-80HA2 Review

Testing:

Now, the fun really starts. In order to stress the GPU, I fired up four instances of the Real Time High Dynamic Range Image Based Lighting (rthdribl) demo and monitored the temps with ATI's Catalyst Control Center. I recorded all temps after 15 minutes in a climate controlled environment with an ambient temperature of 22.2 degrees Celsius. For the stock cooler tests, I manually set the fan speeds to 25% (low) and 100% (high). I also used the ATI Overdrive utility to overclock the video card and recorded those results as well.   

Testing Setup:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition
• Motherboard: ECS X58B-A
• Memory: Corsair Dominator 6GB DDR3-1600
• Video Card(s): Sapphire HD 4850
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800 watt Modular power supply
• Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB
  
• Optical Drive: Asus Blu-ray
• OS: Windows Vista Home Premium

Overclocked Settings:

• Video Card(s): Sapphire HD 4850 680 core / 1103 memory

There are a couple of valuable observations to make from the results. The most important is the dramatic cooling performance the IXG-80HA2 has when combined with the fan kit. If you compare the stock cooler at 100% with the IXG-80HA2 with fans installed, you will find approximately 20% cooler temps in an idle state and around 30% better under load.  Impressive!

Almost as dramatic is the cooler's ability to remain effective without fans and operating in silence. Yes, the IXG-HA2 with no fans performed on par with the stock cooler at 25%. As a word of warning, the copper heatpipes on the heatsink get very hot when used passively.